Montel Jackson didn’t get a contract earlier this season on Dana White’s Contender Series, but he’ll be in the UFC soon regardless.

Jackson (6-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) is stepping up on short notice to replace Benito Lopez (9-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) in a bantamweight fight against Ricky Simon (13-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) at UFC 227 next month. UFC officials announced the new matchup on tonight’s episode of Dana White’s Contender Series 14 on UFC Fight Pass. The exact nature of Lopez’s injury was not disclosed.

The fight will take place on the FX-broadcast prelims, according to the announcement, though the UFC.com bout order for UFC 227 was changed Monday to put Lopez-Simon on the main card.

Jackson, from Milwaukee, improved his record to 6-0 on the second season’s first episode of Dana White’s Contender Series in June. He stopped Rico DiSciullo with a third-round TKO, but didn’t get a contract from UFC President Dana White. White, however, said he’d be keeping his eye on Jackson, and his opportunity came relatively quickly.

Simon made his promotional debut at UFC Fight Night 128 in April and beat Merab Dvalishvili with a controversial guillotine choke at the end of the fight. Although Dvalishvili didn’t tap before the horn, referee Liam Kerrigan awarded the win to Simon since he deemed Dvalishvili would not have been able to continue. Simon won a $50,000 “Fight of the Night” bonus for the victory.

Prior to that, had had won five straight, including the LFA bantamweight title with a win over UFC veteran Chico Camus at LFA 29. He defended the belt with a 59-second knockout of Vinicius Zani at LFA 36 in March, then signed with the UFC and was fighting there a month later.

Lopez, who trains at Team Alpha Male, was going to be putting his unbeaten record on the line against Simon prior to the injury. Eleven months ago, he picked up a split-decision win over Steven Peterson on Dana White’s Contender Series. This past December at UFC Fight Night 123, he made his promotional debut and took a unanimous decision against Albert Morales.